India, June 28 -- A few years ago, everybody was talking about the rock star technology job of the future: data scientist -- a unicorn who understood computer science, statistics, and how vertical businesses worked. These were rare professionals in high demand and so they commanded high salaries, got the best work/life balance, and were considered the "sexiest."

Thanks, in part, to new and improving open source and vendor-provided tools, the frenzied demand for these technology pros has gotten a little calmer, and salaries for data scientists and predictive analytics professionals have remained relatively steady over the past year. That's according to the annual salary survey for these professionals compiled by quantitative executive rec...